'Old-age' home for retired horses of Mounted Police

Kolkata, Jan 13: The retired horses, which once served the Mounted Police, have at last found shade in the ''old-age'' home.

West Bengal State Police Training College has come up with a noble way to take care of these animals by sending them to an ''old-age'' home.

''Ashari'', an animal hospital-cum-shelter on the eastern fringe of the city, run by Maneka Gandhi's People For Animals (PFA), homes 14 retired horses, belonging to the State Police Riding School.

PFA Managing Trustee and Founder of Compassionate Crusaders Trust Debasis Chakrabarti said, '' These aging animals, unfit for police duty, won't be put down for want of resources and stable space, but, are taken care of by the PFA, Calcutta, with some help from the state government. ''

Referring to other police departments in the city, Mr Chakrabarti said, '' This is a heart-warming gesture by the state police department and should be an eye-opener to many other institutes saddled with infirm animals.

'' Responding to a question in this regard, Kolkata Police Joint Commissioner of Armed Police Julfiqar Hasan, however, said, '' We do not send the infirm horses to an old-age home. The infirm horses stay with us in the stables where they were born and lived all their lives. They will not survive in an old age home. Here, they stay with their children, who now go to work, instead of themselves and they in their place stay at home.

'' Taking a dig at the West Bengal Police forces, he said, '' Would you send your parents to an old age home because they are not strong enough to take care of themselves? '' The Kolkata Police's mounted police force is as important a part of the department as that in the state police force. However, these two sections have decided to opt for different modes of taking care of the infirm animals in their force.